Selecting and conveying apparatus for card indexes



0. BECKER Sept; 30, 194 1.

SELECTING AND CONVEYING APPARATUS FOR CARD INDEXES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 In venfol' w fiw Filed March 18, 1939 il .lii LELMEEKKEW MW. MW

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o. BECKER 2,257,220

SELECTING ANDCONVEYING APiARATUS FOR CARD INDEXES Sept; 30, 1941.

Filed March 18,. 1939 2 Shets-Sheet 2 In ven for W;

Patented'Sept. 30, 1941 SELECTING AND CONVEYINGAPPABATUS FOB. CARD INDEXES Otto Becker, Saarbrucken, Germany Application March 18, 1939, Serial No. 262,746 In Great Britain March 21, 1938 "4 Claims.

This intention has for'its object to select any desired single card from a large number of card indexes of the like and bring this card to the operator.

' In the known devices for this purpose a group of cards is first selected and then the desired card selected from this group. The cards of the group in question which are not required remain on the place where they are'stored or are only shifted slightly to one side or raised.

Contrary to these ,known devices all those cards belonging to the group containing the desired card are, according to the invention, caused to leave the place where they are stored by an adjustable group selecting dervice, and by means of an adjustable single card selecting device, the desired card from this group is subsequently separated from the other cards of the group. The card index cards are stored in groups in containers on compartments designed to be selectively emptied by a setting device, for example by the swinging outwards of the bottom supporting plate, by actuating the setting device.

The piles of cards are connected with the Single card selecting device by a suitable conveying means. The selected card is conveyed to the working place, whereas the remaining cards of the group in question are turned to the place where they are stored.

Endless bands, rotary pressure cylinders, and the like may for example be used as conveying I means and with guide bars or guide plates controlled by lever systems for guiding and controlling the path of travel of the cards.

As single card' selecting device for example the devices known for perforated cards (perforated card selecting machines) may be used. The card index cards have suitably located perforations whose position represents the contents of the card.

The perforated sections are scanned in succession by mechanically or electrically actuated means, and when the perforations of a card register with the corresponding adjustment of the setting device, this card is'separated from the other cards. Such an arrangement is well known in the art.

In the present instance the card thus selected is conveyed to a suitable place for inspection by the operator, whereas the remaining cards are returned into the group container and consequently to their storage place. The apparatus comprises a combination of such group and single conveying means which render it possible in a very short time to select from a large number of cards a certain card which may be characterized by perforations arranged to denote diflerent entries on the card and to convey this selected card to the place where it is required. o

The whole apparatus may for example be arranged in a writing desk, so that the card index is accommodated without waste of space.

An embodiment of the invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 shows the whole apparatus in vertical section,

Fig. 2 is a similar view on a larger scale of one of the group holders with the actuating devices coordinated thereto, and the mechanism for reand empty the container l a contact press-button l9 (Fig. 2) is depressed and an electromagnet Ill excited which causes a two-armed lever II to swing about its axle l4 and thus shift a connecting rod l3 connected to the hinged bottom 3 by means of a one-armed lever I2. The cards 2 then slide on to a conveyor band 20 driven by rollers 20a and motor 29. The conveyor band 20 conducts the cards 2 to the single card selecting device 2| ior perforated cards'of' the type which is well known from the Hollorith and Power machines. This delivers the selected card on to a conveyor band 22 which feeds the card by means of a guide plate to ascending circulating bands 26 driven by rollers 26a, and these bands push th selected card through a slot 21 in the table top. The cards of the selected group which are not required are conveyed by a pair of ascending conveyor bands 23, driven by rollers 23a, over a guide plate 24 between another pair of conveyor bands driven by rollers 25a which deliver the cards between pairs of cylinders 5 0 which return them into their container. The

conveyor bands and cylinders are driven by a tainer through a slot leading to the nip of the card selecting devices with suitable connecting conveyor bands 25.

Each container has a guide rail 8 which can i be selectively actuated. These guide rails are set by the actuation ofthe key IQ of the selecting devicei for opening the container.

The electro-magnet Ill retracts its iron core as soon as it is energized by current. The iron core has a catch l5. Thiscatch pressesagainst the guide rail 6 and turns it about its axle I. When the guide rail is in its extreme position aresilient'nose 8 on the guide rail- 6 snaps into engagement behind an angle piece 9 with. the result that the guide rail is compelled to remain in this position in which it bars the passage of the cardsto thenext pair of guide and pressure rolls and compels the card to travel into the corresponding container. 1

When all the cards have been returned into their container, a cancellingrod I6 can, for example by the depression of a press button, be swung upwards by a lever I1 and the guide rails are returned into their initial position by means of a cancelling bolt l8 arranged on this rod l6.

When the cards are returning into the containers in rapid succession, it is advisable to bring them into their final position in their containers as quickly as possible to prevent them from barring the entrance of the following cards into the container. This may be effected, for example by resilient elements 3| mounted on the walls I of the container and oscillated by the incoming cards.

To ensure the complete emptying of the containers and especially to prevent the card last leaving the container from jamming, it is advisable. to provide .a recess (Fig. 3) in the lower part of the rear wall of the container which projects below the wall of the next following container thus forming a kind of slot below the rear wall I and the bottom 3 ensuring the passing out of all the cards, and rendering it impossible for the last card to be caught by the fiap.

From Fig. 3 it can be seen that the rear wall of the container I does not extend right down to the fold-down bottom 3 and this forms a slotlike aperture through which the cards can slide out entirely once they have commenced to drop. As a portion of the rear wall of the container l, the fold-down bottom 3 and a portion of the side walls Ia are visible in Fig. 3.

The cards may be provided in knowrrmanner with perforations,-for indicating their contents, if one of the known perforated card machines is used as separate card selecting device.

I claim: v x

1. Apparatus for selecting a desired card from a number of punched index cards, comprising in combination, a card storage magazine storing cards in groups, an adjustable group select ing device connected to said storage magazine and adapted to remove the whole group of cards containing the desired card from said storage magazine, and an adjustable selecting device for perforated cards connected by conveying means with said storage magazine and adapted to select the desired single card or sub-group of cards from the selected group, and further conveying means between said punched card selecting device and the storage magazine for automatically returning the other cards 01' the selected roups to their place of storag to form a complete circulation of the remaining cards to allow at once a new selection without any other manual operation.

2. Apparatus for selecting a desired card from a number of index cards, comprising in combination, a card storage m'agazine storing cards in groups, an adjustable group selecting device connected .to said storage magazin and adapted to select the group of cards containing the desired card from the groups of cards in said storage magazine, an adjustable single card selecting device connected with said group selecting device and adapted to select the desired card from the selected group, an operating table, a conveying device between said single card selecting device and said table adapted to convey the selected card from said single card selecting device to said operating table, a conveying device between said single card selecting device and the storage magazine and between said operating table and said storage magazine, and means for returning the other cards of the selected groups to their place of storage and for returning the selected card to its group of cards in said card storage.

3. An apparatus as specified in claim 1, wherein the card storage magazine comprises a plurality of containers each accommodating a group of cards in the form of a pack, means for removing the cards from the containers directly actuated by the group selecting device and means for automatically returning the cards into the containers.

4. An apparatus as specified in claim 1, wherein the conveying means consists of rotary cylinders and endless bands cooperating with the containers said containers being adapted to be filled by the conveying means and emptied by the adjustable group selecting device and thecard selecting device for sorting out any desired card with the other cards continuing the movement and completing the circulation for return into the same container while the sorted out card is separated out of the circulation and is adapted to be returned into the circulation at an insertion point.

OTTO BECKER. 

